STORY OF BO DIDDLEY Lyrics

(Burdon/McDaniel)

 Now listen here to the story of Bo Diddley
 The rock 'n roll scene in general
 Bo Diddley was born Ellis McDaniels
 In a place called McCoom
 In Mississippi about 1926
 He moved to Chicago about 1938
 Where his name was eventually changed to Bo Diddley
 He practised the guitar every day and sometimes into the night
 'till his papa's hair began to turn white
 His pa said Son, listen here, I know
 You can stay but, uh, that guitar's just got to go
 So he pulled his hat down over his eyes
 And headed on out for them western skies
 I think Bob Dylan said that
 He hit New York City
 He began to play the Apollo in Harlem
 Good scene there
 Everybody raved
 One day, one night
 Came a Cadillac, four headlights
 Came a man with a big long fat cigar
 He said Come here son, I'm going to make you a star
 Bo Diddley said Uh, what's in it for me?
 The man said Uh, shut your mouth son and play the guitar
 and you just wait and see
 Well, Bo made it, he made it real big
 And so did the rest of the Rock 'n Roll scene along with him
 And a white guy called Johnny Otis took Bo Diddley's rhythm
 And changed into hand jive
 And it went like this:

 In a little old country town one day
 A little old country man begin to play
 Had two guitars and a beat-up saxophone
 When the drummer said ??? those cats begin to ???

 Oh baby, oooo we oh oh
 Oooo la la that rock 'n roll
 You hear me, oooo we oh oh
 Oooo la la that rock 'n roll

 Then the U.S. music scene, there was big changes made
 Due to circumstances beyond our control
 Such as payola
 The rock 'n roll scene died after two years of solid rock
 You got discs like, uh:
 Take good care of my baby
 Please don't ever make her blue
 And so forth

 About, uh, one year later
 In a place called Liverpool in England
 Uh, four young guys with mop haircuts
 Begin to sing stuff like, uh:
 It's been a hard day's night
 And I've been workin' like a dog
 And so on

 A place called Richmond in Surrey
 Way down in the deep south
 Where the guys had long hair down their backs sang:
 I wanna be your lover baby
 I wanna be your man, yeah
 And all that jazz

 Well we been doin' this number Bo Diddley
 for quite some time now
 Bo Diddley visited this country last year
 And we were playin' the Club A-Go-Go in Newcastle, our home town
 And the doors opened one night
 And to our surprise in walked the man himself, Bo Diddley
 Along with him was, uh, Jerome Green, his maraca man
 And the Dutchess, his gorgeous sister
 Now we're doin', uh, we're doin' this number
 Along with them came Rolling Stones and The Mersey Beats
 They're all standin' around diggin' it
 And I overheard Bo Diddley talkin'
 He turned around to Jerome Green, he said
 Hey Jerome. What do you think of these guys doin our, our material?
 Jerome said Uh, where's the bar, man. Please show me to the bar.
 He turned around to the Dutchess and he said
 Hey Dutch. What do you think of these young guys doin' our material?
 She said ah, I don't know. I only came across here to see the
 changin' of the guards and all that jazz.
 But Bo Diddley looked up at me and he said, uh
 With half-closed eyes and a smile
 He said Man. Took off his glasses. He said Man
 That sure is the biggest load of rubbish ever heard in my life
 Hey Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
 Oh Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
 Yeah Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
 Oh Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
 Yeah Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
 Oh Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)